Full-time: England 0-1 Portugal
It started so brightly, but in the end England are left with an all-too familiar feeling. After an encouraging first half, Southgate’s side were beaten by a team who ultimately looked superior physically, intellectually and technically, especially in midfield, which is why the losses of Berahino and Stones are not enough to account for the defeat. Rapid improvement needed if they are to get past Italy and Sweden in their next matches.
90+2: A valiant last stand by England! Pritchard curls in a corner, Jenkinson meet it well, and Sa saves. Only seconds remain ...
90+1 min: Dinky dribbling by Chalobah at the edge of the area, but Mané makes a last-ditch intervention to foil England.
90 min: A poor defensive header from the otherwise immaculate Oliveira presents Pritchard with a shooting opportunity. But he fails to catch it properly and the bobble bobbles harmlessly wide.
88 min: Well that about sums up the second-half difference between these two sides: after being backed into their box by Portugal, England suddenly get a chance to piece together a counter-attack, but Chalobah booms the ball into the opposition keeper’s arms from 75 yards.
87 min: Wo-hoah! Bernardo Silva juggles with the ball in midfield and then spreads it wide with a beautiful pigeon-wing pass to Neves! Portugal have a showboat and they know how to use it.
85 min: Portugal sub: Neves on for the goalscorer Mario.
83 min: More encouragement from England as Jenkinson hares down the right and plays a good pass towards Ings, who sidefoots it first-time from 20 yards. Just over the bar!
82 min: Good work by Garbutt down the left, but all undone by an inaccurate cross.
81 min: Well that’s encouraging! Pritchard’s first contribution is to dash down the left and then play a good ball in to Kane, who takes on touch and let fly from 15 yards. Straight at the keeper, but promising.
80 min: More subs: Ricardo is replaced by Mané, and Carroll, finally, is taken off for Pritchard. Southgate’s changes have made no difference so far, let’ see if this has any effect.
77 min: Fair to say England have missed Stones in central defence. They were picked apart again just now and lucky that Ricardo slipped as he shaped to shoot.
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75 min: Ings can only get better: his first touch is a foul, giving Portugal a freekick about 28.1 yards out. Medeiros fancies his chances of making a better first impression .... but he over-rated himself, and his droopy freekick flopped way wide.
74 min: England sub: Ings on for Lingard. Portgual sub: Medeiros on for Cavaleiro.
72 min: A wonderfu feint and dash takes Cavaleiro past Chalobah and bearing down on the English box. But the move peters out. But Portugal will be back, you can be sure of that; they’re been a class above England in the second half, and Southgate’s side look unable to do anything about it.
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70 min: Smooth interplay takes Portugal from their own box to the edge of England’s. Ricardo tries to clip the ball across to Cavaleiro, but his pass is overhit.
69 min: Lingard feeds Kane, who shuffles forward and then lets fly from 20 yards. Carvalho diverts it behind for a corner.
67 min: Freekick to England in Ward-Prowse territory. Oh, he’s been taken off. So Garbutt tries to float one to the back post instead. And finds the corner flag.
@guardian_sport @Paul_Doyle ahem. As suggested much hype no delivey when it matters! Pearce, Southgate, same old!!
— Alan Wilde (@wildeonbonds) June 18, 2015
That didn’t take long
65 min: Mario crosses from the right. Ricardo, who drifted off the back of Moore, should score ... but he nods wide from eight yards!
64 min: Hughes concedes a freekick for a high boot on the excellent Sergio Olvieira, who has been integral in Portugal achieving increasing domination in midfield. Hughes has had little influence since replacing Ward-Prowse, and Carroll is practically invisible. I’d suggest a change, Chief Southgate, such as Loftus-Cheek or Pritchard.
62 min: Jenkinson cops a yellow for tripping Cavaleiro.
60 min: Portugal have their danders up now, and England have a job to do now to get themselves back into contention. They’re in danger of unravelling.
GOAL! England 0-1 Portugal (Joao Mario 57)
England’s defence gets all a-fluster following a lofted pass from Oliveira. The ball comes off Garbutt’s back and into the path off Silva, whose close-range shot bounces out off the post. Joao Mario is first to reach and fires the rebound into the net from 10 yards!
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56 min: Guerreiro comes up from left-back, takes a breaking ball down on his chest, then goes close with a swirling shot from 20 yards.
54 min: England make their first chance, Ward-Prowse being replaced by Will Hughes.
52 min: Chalobah has been quietly impressive in deep midfield. He’s strong, clever and progressive. I’d like to see him getting a proper chance to shine in the Premier League.
49 min: Gibson booked for a foul, then Silva gets the same treatment down the other end. Freekick to England in a very promising position, about 24 yards out. Ward-Prowse, with that Beckham-esque technique of his, sends a dipping curler over the wall ... and inches wide!
48 min: Jenkinson and Redmond combine well down the right again, this time the Arsenal man serving as a decoy runner. That gives Redmond room to wriggle and the Norwich trickster conjures up a swerving shot form the edge of the area, which the keeper bats away.
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46 min: We’re back. No changes during the break, which means Tom Carroll has not gained six inches in height and 20 kilos in bulk, so he’s likely to continue getting bullied by Carvalho.
Half-time: England 0-0 Portugal
Well, there’s been plenty to like about that half but let’s be having some goals in the second period please. Tactical intrigue and technical finesse can only take a game so far, it’s time for penetration.
45 min: Ward-Prowse floats in a freekick. It sims off the top of Kane’s head and wide.
43 min: Lovely play by Chalobah, showing leadership and niftiness to stride past a couple of opponents and then ping a shred ball to Lingard, who attempts to curl one into the top corner from the left-hand side of the box. Just wide!
40 min: Calm, swift and skilful play takes Portugal from their own box right up to the English end, where William Carvalho outfoxes Moore and then picks out Cavaleiro, who ruins it all with a woegeous shot into the stands from the edge of the area.
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38 min: Sergio Oliveira, who’s like a more skilful Jordan Henderson, suggests that freekicks are one thing he can’t do: like a late-night reveller on his way home, his piddling effort runs down the wall.
35 min: Silva bends a freekick in from the left. Illori gets his head to it but fails to find the target.
33 min: Kane goes close again, this time banging a low blaster just wide from 20 yards. And Simon Bailey has spotted even more reason to be cheerful: “It’s nice watching England without that ridiculous band playing,” writes Simon.
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32 min: Kane comes alive! Realising he must make a feat from crumbs, he pounces on a breaking ball some 30 yards out, bounds a little closer and then unleashes a powerful curler that the keepers has to push away.
30 min: When not in possession, England have taken to sitting quite deep in a bid to compress the space between their defence and midfield, where Silva, in particular, had been revelling. That’s curbed Portugal’s vim a little, but also left Kane even more isolated. Bit of a lull in goalmouth action, then.
28 min: England are looking casual on the ball in the right sense: too often in the past English players have seemed under intolerable pressure to perform when given a bit of time and space, but these youngsters look unburdened and unhurried by the responsibility of having to make something happen.
25 min: This really is a very decent Portugal side and England are doing well not just to hold them off, but even to threaten sporadically on the break. But there’s no doubt Portugal have looked the more menacing so far, blending power, smarts and skill.
22 min: Fine play by England. Redmond probed inventively down the left, then spread a beautiful ball to Lingard on the far side. Lingard swapped tidy passes with Chalobah and then tried to pick out Kane in the middle, but that meddling Tiago Ilori arrived to play the spoilsport.
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20 min: England catch a break as Cavaleiro slips in the box after being put through by Ricardo. Moore takes advantage of the reprieve to hurry across and clear the danger.
19 min: England fire off another decent warning shot, Lingard lashing one just over from 20 yards.
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17 min: Often in the qualifiers, England dominate opponents physically at underage level, but that’s certainly not the case here, as Portugal are powerful as well as nimble. Ward-Prowse has just been given a first-hand demonstration of that fact, as Silva muscled him off the ball in midfield and then skittered skilfully forward. But the Moinaco forward’s pass let him down in the end.
14 min: It’s an entertaining, high-paced game of lofty technical quality - and Portugal are having the better of it. Kane has barely had a sniff so far.
13 min: Bernardo Silva, thriving in the space between England’s defence and midfield, picks up a dainty flick from Ricardo and skitters towards the box, then rasps Butland’s hands with a stinging drive from 20 yards.
11 min: That’s better from England! Jenkinson ventures forward to provide an overlap on the right wing, then exchanges clever passes with Redmond, who fires off a snapshot from 15 yards that Jose Sa needs two attempts to catch.
10 min: Portugal seem to have taken control of central midfield, where Sergio Oliveira, Joao Mario and Carvahlo are starting to boss proceedings. Carroll is retreating to help out Ward-Prowse and Chalobah but they’re chasing shadows.
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8 min: Butland makes an immaculate reflex save, flicking the ball away with his left hand as his body was going the other way: Liam Moore is mighty grateful, as it would have been his own goal, a dangerous cross from the right deflecting off him from six yards out.
6 min: Portugal have responded to England’s promising start with a bright spell of play of their own. Sergio Oliveira is emerging as a strong threat from midfield.
4 min: It’s been a confident start by England, who’ve had the lion’s share of possession and sought to use it creatively. They’re popping the ball about nicely.
2 min: Lingard, the man thrust into the starting line-up in place of Berahino, shows a nice burst of pace and skill to dash past two opponents and then find a team-mate. England work the ball wide to the other flank, from where Redmond delivers a fine dangerous cross, forcing a defender to intervene sharply before Kane could convert.
1 min: Portugal get the game going in a rinkydink stadium that is approximately 65% full. The camera appears to be positioned in one of the dugouts, judging by the angle, so I’ll be giving you a manager’s-eye account of events. You can even read it in Gareth Southgate’s accent if you fancy augmenting the authenticity.
Some mighty say the English players signing’ lacked tunefulness, but I’m choosing to see it as an impressive development of a genre pioneered by Aleksander Kolarov.
There are some people on the pitch ... fortunately, they’re the players. And they’re all in orderly lines as they croon along to their respective national anthems.
Southgate speaks to BT1 about Berahino’s injury and more: “He felt a knee injury two days ago. He was still able to train yesterday but it didn’t feel right so we scanned it. It will probably keep him out for about three weeks. People who say players don’t care about playing for England but I’ve had two players [Berahino and Stones] in tears this week because they’ve been ruled out.
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Rob Bagchi wrote an astute profile of Southgate in today’s Telegraph, featuring the observation that: “Southgate looks the model of a modern coach, even down to the DH Lawrence beard he is now sporting – cosmopolitan, flexible and cerebral. Yet there are echoes too of Malcolm Allison and Dave Sexton, whose undervalued toughness complemented their sprightly creativity and aptitude for teaching.”
This group of Portugal fans were here yesterday to welcome team to training. Constant chanting. Good stuff pic.twitter.com/eUPpG3LpYi
— John Ashdown (@John_Ashdown) June 18, 2015
The first match in England’s group has just finished with a surprise, as 10-men Sweden beat Italy 2-1. As for the match that gets under way in 40 minutes, there are many intriguing features to look forward to. How, for instance, will Liverpool’s Tiago Ilori deal with Harry Kane? And at the other end, how will the Stones-less English defence contend with Bernardo Silva, who’s an elusive sneak with a knack for nicking goals. And that Portuguese midfield, featuring William Carvahlo and Joao Mario of Sporting Lisbon, will give Chalobah and Ward-Prowse a strong test. And what will our Uherske Hradiste correspondent, John Ashdown, tweet next?
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Preamble:
Hello and welcome to what might, just might, be a bold new dawn for England. Gareth Southgate is one of the chief boffins seeking to alter the DNA of English footballers and he and his wise talking have generated good vibes around this batch of U21s even if the national revamp is only beginning. The build-up to tonight’s opening match in their European Championship campaign has not been without snags – John Stones has been ruled out of the first two games with concussion, and Beik Afobe today got an urgent order to pack a toothbrush and a clean pair of underpants and fly over to the Czech Republic to replace Saido Berahino, who was England’s top scorer in qualifying but has just fallen foul of a knee injury. But optimism abounds for England, nonetheless. If it’s still around in a few games time, then this really will be a new era.
Teams
England: Butland; Jenkinson, Moore, Gibson, Garbutt; Ward-Prowse, Chalobah; Redmond, Carroll, Lingard; Kane
Subs: Bettinelli, Bond, Forster-Caskey, Pritchard, Keane, Ings, Hughes, Chambers, Targett, Loftus-Cheek
Portugal: Jose Sa; Ricard Esgaio, Tiago Ilori, Paulo Oliveira, Guerreiro; Sergio Oliveira, Carvahlo, Joao Mario; Ricard, SIlva, Cavaleiro
Subs: Varela, Fernandes, Silva, Paciencia, Medeiros, Cancelo, Figuerido, Venancio, Neves, Mane, Horta, Toze
Referee: D Makkelie (Ned)
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